BEERG: UK Labour Government Would Rewrite Industrial Relations Laws

With Prime Minister Theresa May’s government under attack, the Labour Party is signaling that it would oversee the biggest rewrite of trade union laws in 35 years if it retakes Parliament.

Labour Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell promised to re-implement secondary action, otherwise known as sympathy strikes, which occur when trade union members take industrial action in support of workers who are employed by a different company.

“Our programme of workplace reform will restore the balance between employer and worker,” Chancellor claimed, "and it will do so by installing basic trade union rights in law again. We will introduce a new Ministry of Labour to give workers a voice in parliament, sectoral collective bargaining to raise wages and conditions, and repeal dangerous anti-trade union legislation.”

Labour is also committed to introducing electronic balloting for industrial action, which the unions believe would make it easier to trigger strikes.